By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Director: Arnon Goldfinger
Country: germany, israel
Year: 2012
Running time: 97
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2071620/
Bruce says: “Similar to documentaries 51 BIRCH STREET and STORIES WE TELL, THE FLAT is the story of a filmmaker who discovers hidden stories in his family history. This time the history involves not parents as in the previously mentioned films but Arnon Goldfinger’s maternal grandparents. When Gerda Tuchler dies, the family gathers to go through her apartment where she has lived for 50 years. She and her husband Kurt emigrated from Germany to Palestine in 1938. They never fully adapted to life in Israel and never spoke anything but German.
“As they sort through Gerda’s belongings, Arnon’s mother Hannah is detached. Hannah and Gerda did not have much of an on-going dialogue; and, growing up, Hannah had little knowledge about her parents’ lives. Hannah never asked questions of her parents so much of their past remains a mystery. ‘Our generation’s parents wouldn’t talk about it and we wouldn’t ask. That’s the way we were brought up,’ says Hannah.
“In the beginning of the 20th century Gerda and Kurt Tuchler were members of the upper middle class in Germany, he a judge. Their best friends were Gerda and Leopold von Mildenstein. One of the first discoveries among Gerda Tuchler’s belongings is the evidence that the two couples traveled to Palestine together in 1933. Pictures taken in San Marco Square reveal a stopover in Venice. That alone is not particularly illuminating until it is revealed that von Mildenstein was Adolf Edichman’s predecessor and the possible architect of methods for the disposing of Jews throughout Germany. What were the Tuchlers doing with such people?
“Arnon Goldfinger embarks on a quest to uncover the facts surrounding this friendship. He travels to Germany where he meets Edda Milx von Mildenstein, daughter of Gerda and Leopold. Edda has kept her mother’s diaries that reveal additional facts about the Tuchlers and von Mildensteins. Not only were they close friends before World War II, they remained friends and continued to see each other after the war. The mystery deepens.
“Hannah accompanies Arnon on a trip to Germany as she slowly develops a curiosity about her parents’ past. Discovery, as is often the case, is not one-sided. Arnon discovers truths about the von Mildensteins as well. Edda’s family history is forever altered in the process. One of the best things about THE FLAT is Arnon Goldfinger’s non-judgmental attitude. While I did not find Goldfinger’s story as personally moving as Doug Block’s or Sarah Polley’s but the mystery of the Tuchler/von Mildenstein friendship is certainly compelling. 4.5 cats”